Reel lifting device with support arms mounted for flexible movement

ABSTRACT

An apparatus for reeling or unreeling a cable, comprising an upright frame (1) and two supports (4) fastened vertically stationary to the frame, each support being provided with a vertically movable suspending arm (5) having a reel gripping pins at its lower end. To reduce the masses to be moved and to compensate for differences in the positions of the centers of a deformed reel, each stationary support (4) comprises an abutment (14) which in an uppermost position of the suspending arm (5) supports the suspending arm rigidly to the frame through the support, whereby each suspending arm (5) is supported by the stationary support by a spring (12) which in a lowered gripping position of the suspending arm allows a flexible movement of the suspending arm with respect to the support in the axial direction of the suspending arm and a horizontal swinging movement in a plane perpendicular to the axis of the reel.

This invention relates to an apparatus for reeling or unreeling a cableor the like, comprising

a frame,

two supports mounted vertically immovably on the frame, said supportsbeing horizontally movable towards and away from each other inaccordance with the axial width of a reel,

a suspending arm mounted in each support, said suspending arm beingprovided at the lower end with a gripping means for gripping a centre ofthe reel and arranged displaceably in vertical direction with respect tothe support over a distance corresponding to the sum of a heightdifference between the centre of a largest reel and the centre of asmallest reel and a lifting distance of the largest reel, and

power means to vertically displace the suspending arms.

This kind of apparatus is used especially in the cable industry forreeling or unreeling cables, but the apparatus is equally applicablewhen reeling other similar products, such as ropes. The purpose of theapparatus is to raise the reel so that it can be rotated about itscentral axis. The apparatus comprises gripping pins for gripping thereel from a central hole or from some other lifting means provided onopposite sides of the reel. Even though the reels are originallysymmetrical on both sides, and the central holes are positionedaccurately on the same horizontal axis, the reels and especially theirtwo flanges may be damaged and deformed in use so that the reel to belifted is no longer positioned in an upright position on the underlyingsurface but slants so that the central holes of the reel are positionedat different heights with respect to each other. The same situationoccurs when the underlying surface has worn unevenly. Therefore thegripping pins of the apparatus must be able to compensate for heightdifferences between the central holes. In addition to this, theapparatus should, of course, be able to handle reels of differentdiameters.

Finnish Patent Specification 61012 (Swedish Patent Specification392,185) discloses a cable reeling apparatus in which the gripping pinsare fastened to suspending arms mounted vertically displaceably insupports fastened to the frame of the apparatus, more precisely, tohorizontal beams supported by two columns of the frame. The supports arethereby fastened to the horizontal beams in such a way that the supportsmaintain their vertical position relative to the horizontal beams butare nevertheless horizontally moveable along the beams. For gripping thereel, the suspending arms can be raised and lowered so that the reelscan be raised off the floor level sufficiently to be rotated freely.

This kind of cable reeling apparatus, however, has certain majordisadvantages. Since the supports for the suspending arms are fastenedto the frame vertically immovably, the suspending arms have to belowered rather a long distance in order that the gripping pins of thesuspending arms could be pushed into engagement with the central holesof the reel. After raising the suspending arms to such an extent thatthe reel is able to rotate, the suspending arms remain rather long. Therotation of the reel causes considerable stresses in the suspendingarms, which results in vibration and swaying and may disturb the reelingand possibly damage the suspending arms. A further disadvantage is thatto prevent swaying of the suspending arms during the reeling, thesuspending arms must be journalled in their supports with a clearance assmall as possible. As a result of this, the gripping pins in the lowerends of the suspending arms are not able to be displaced to any greaterdegree in the sideward direction in their lowered position. Therefore,the gripping pins are not able to find central holes which have beendisplaced slightly from the original position due to damage or for someother reason.

To avoid these disadvantages, cable reeling apparatuses have beendeveloped in which the supports for the suspending arms are verticallymovable with respect to the frame. One such apparatus is disclosed inFinnish Patent Specification 60542 (German Patent Specification 27 13866). This apparatus is able to both handle reels of different diametersand compensate for minor height differences between the central holes ofthe reel. This, however, is achieved by means of a rather complicatedconstruction. The supports for the suspending rods are mountedvertically moveably on separate columns, which requires that thesupports are provided with separate lifting and lowering mechanisms aswell. In addition, the two suspending arms provided with the grippingpins are each provided with a separate machinery by means of which thegripping pin is displaceable between a locked position and a freeposition in which the gripping pin is able to perform a vertical flexingmovement with respect to its support. The two supports areinterconnected by a horizontal transverse beam adjustable in length andmovable in the vertical direction together with the supports. Whenhandling the reels, relatively large masses have to be moved. Stillanother disadvantage is that height differences possibly occurringbetween the central holes due to reel deformations can be compensatedfor only within the rather small flexible movement of the suspendingrods, because the supports are interconnected by the transverse beam andcannot be moved independently of each other. The spring-lever-jointconstruction, required for the flexible movement of the suspending rods,requires room on the side of the suspending rod and makes the supportlarger, which hampers working around the reel.

Still another disadvantage of the prior art apparatus is that thegripping pins cannot be secured completely rigidly to the frame in thereeling position. The supports of the suspending rods are provided withabutments against which the gripping pins may be pressed in the reelingposition. However, since the supports are vertically movable along thecolumns, a small disadvantageous clearance always remains between thesupport and the column. In an attempt to avoid this, the suspending rodincluding its operating motor has been mounted on a base which ispivotedly fastened to the support and provided with two slide bearingspressing against opposite slide surfaces in the column. The object hasbeen to cause the base to pivot relative to the column so that the slidebearings of the base grip firmly the column when the gripping pin ispressed by the operating motor against the abutment of the support. Sucha way of removing the clearance between the support and the column,however, complicates the construction and increases costs.

Cable reeling apparatuses of other types are also known from the priorart. German Offenlegungsschrift 1 474 238 and U.S. Patent Specification3,123,314 disclose horizontal structures in which the reel lifting armsare mounted vertically pivotably on a horizontal pivot shaft positionedat the side of the reel. This structure, however, requires a relativelylarge floor space beside the reel, whereby the other manufacturing andhandling devices are difficult to arrange to cooperate with the reelingapparatus.

German Offenlegungsschrift 25 19 070 discloses a portal-type structurein which the supports for the reel gripping means are mounted each on aseparate column so that the supports are vertically displaceable on thecolumns. This structure is fairly simple, but relatively large massesstill have to be displaced when moving the supports.

The object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus forreeling or unreeling a cable or the like. The apparatus avoids theabove-mentioned disadvantages and enables the handling of reels ofdifferent sizes and even badly deformed reels with a simple but steadystructure. This object is achieved by means of an apparatus according tothe invention, which is characterized in

that each stationary support comprises an abutment which in theuppermost position of the suspending arm supports the suspending armrigidly to the frame through the support, and

that each suspending arm is supported by the stationary support by meansof a spring member which in the lowered gripping position of thesuspending arm allows a flexible movement of the suspending arm withrespect to the support in the axial direction of the suspending arm anda horizontal swinging movement in a plane perpendicular to the axis ofthe reel.

The invention is based on the idea that the suspending arms can beallowed to be lowered over a relatively long distance in the verticaldirection, provided that the gripping means can be reliably supported totheir supports in the raised reeling position. The large verticallowering movement enables a relatively wide horizontal movement of thegripping means at the lower end of the suspending arm in a planeperpendicular to the axis of the reel when the suspending arm is pivotedto the support at its upper end. The spring member allows a smallflexible movement of the suspending arm in the vertical direction. Inaddition the suspending arm is able to swing on the spring member. Sothe gripping means can be inserted into the central hole of the reelirrespective of a possible wrong position of the reel.

The stationary support, which is vertically immovable with respect tothe frame, is completely free from clearance. If a vertically movablesupport is used, the appearance of clearance is difficult to avoid. Thevertical slide bearings required in a movable support are also avoided.Thus, the gripping means can be secured rigidly to the frame by means ofthe stationary support.

The following advantages will be achieved over the apparatus of FinnishPatent Specification 60542: Since the supports for the suspending armsare fastened vertically immovably to the frame of the apparatus, nomachineries are needed for a vertical movement of the supports. Sinceboth suspending arms can be moved independently of each other over awide range in the vertical direction, it is easy to compensate for evenmajor height differences between the central holes of deformed reels orreels positioned on an uneven surface. As the gripping means supportingthe reel are always lifted against the fixed abutments of the stationarysupports irrespective of the diameter of the reels, the reels willalways be positioned on a constant working height, that is, in anergonomically appropriate position, thus avoiding working at very lowworking levels with small reels. Due to the fixed mounting of thesupports, a rigid, steady support frame is achieved. As the grippingmeans are secured rigidly to the support, which, in turn, is fixedrigidly to the column, the reel is supported very firmly in the reelingposition. As no spring-lever arrangement is needed for the suspendingarms at their lower ends, the support is more "slender" so that it doeshamper working around the reel, e.g., when inserting the end of thecable into the reel. Since the transverse beam of the portal-structureframe is not moved when displacing the suspending arms in the verticaldirection, the masses to be moved remain low and the portal frame isvery steady.

In the following the invention will be described in greater detail withreference to the attached drawings, in which

FIGS. 1 and 2 are side views of one preferred embodiment of theapparatus when handling the largest and the smallest reel, respectively;

FIG. 3 is a front view of the apparatus;

FIG. 4 is a side view of another embodiment of the reeling apparatus;and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view along line V--V shown in FIG. 4.

The cable reeling apparatus shown in FIGS. 1 to 3 of the drawingcomprises a portal-type frame 1 comprising two support columns 2 and aninterconnecting transverse beam 3 which can be shortened and extended inthe longitudinal direction of the beam by means of operating means notshown to adjust the distance between the columns for different reelwidths. The apparatus further comprises two supports 4 each fastenedrigidly to its own column.

Both supports are provided with a vertical suspending arm 5 comprising ascrew rod 6 mounted rotatably but axially immovably on the support, anda gripping rod 7 mounted unrotatably but axially slideably with respectto the support. The gripping rod 7 is in screw engagement with the screwrod and its lower end is provided with a gripping pin 8 to be insertedin a central hole of a reel 9 to grip the reel. The screw rod isconnected through a gear case 10 to a motor 11. The gear case is mountedby means of a ball joint 15 on a spring 12 supported by the support. Thespring allows a small vertical flexible movement of the screw rod andthe joint allows a swinging movement in a vertical plane perpendicularto the transverse beam 3.

The screw rod and the gripping rod of the suspending arm are such inlength that the gripping pin 8 of the gripping rod can be movedvertically over a distance A between the central hole of the smallest,reel 9" and that of the largest reel 9' and additionally over a distanceB required for raising the reel sufficiently over a base 13 to ensurefree rotation of the reel.

The lower portion of each support comprises a fixed abutment 14 forminga downwardly opening support groove against which the lower end of thegripping rod rests when the gripping rod is positioned in the raisedreeling position.

To grip the reel, the gripping pins of both supports are lowered inalignment with the central holes of the reel to be handled, whereafterthe columns are displaced towards each other, so that the gripping pinsgrip the reel. Thereafter the gripping rods are lifted by means of themotors until the lower ends of the rods are positioned in the grooves ofthe abutments 14 provided in the supports. The lifting movement firstcompresses the spring and then pulls the gripping rods tightly intotheir grooves.

It is noted that in order to lift reels of different sizes the grippingrods only have to be moved while the supports remain stationary. Themasses to be moved are thus very small. The frame is very steady as thesupports are positioned immovably on the support columns. As thegripping rods are moved independently of each other, the gripping pinscan be displaced to different heights according to the position of thecentral holes of a slanting reel in the vertical direction. All thereels are lifted to the same ergonomic working level.

In the embodiment of the reeling apparatus shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, thesame reference numerals as in FIGS. 1 to 3 are used for correspondingparts. This embodiment differs from the preceding one mainly only inthat the support 4 is a part of the column 2 of the frame and forms anupper extension of the column. In the suspending arm formed by the parts6 and 7, the movable part 7 is slightly different from that of the firstembodiment. Guide rolls 16 contacting against the vertical flanges ofthe support 4 are arranged at the upper end of part 7, while the lowerend is provided with rolls 17 allowing a swinging movement of part 7 ina vertical plane perpendicular to the axis of the gripping pin 8, asshown by arrows in FIG. 4.

The drawings and the description related thereto are only intended toillustrate the idea of the invention; in its details, the apparatus ofthe invention may vary within the scope of the claims. Instead offastening the supports to the columns, the supports can be mounted asseparate modules on a fixed transverse beam of a portal-type frame or onan upper support rail system in such a way that the supports are movablelongitudinally of the transverse beam or the rail system, respectively,in accordance with different reel widths. In the latter case, the reelsystem acts as the frame of the reeling apparatus. In place of grippingpins, the suspending arms may be provided with gripping means of someother kind, such as gripping hooks. It is also possible that the supportis formed wholly or partly by the frame (FIGS. 4 and 5). For instance,when the support column is U-shaped in cross-section, the suspendingarms and the power means can be mounted within the column, whereby thecolumn acts as a support. When the suspending arm is positioned withinthe support column immediately below the transverse beam interconnectingthe columns, the bending torque exerted on the column by the weight ofthe reel can be minimized. In place of mechanical lifting means, thesuspending arm can be displaced by means of a pressure fluid cylinder.

I claim:
 1. An apparatus useful for reeling or unreeling a cable on areel comprising:(a) a frame comprising two vertical support columnshorizontally displaceable with respect to each other in accordance withthe axial width of a reel to be gripped; (b) two supports, each fastenedrigidly to one of said columns; (c) two vertically extending suspendingarms, each mounted on one of said supports and being provided at thelower end thereof with gripping means for gripping a center axis of saidreel and being vertically displaceable, with respect to the supported onwhich it is mounted, over a distance corresponding to the sum of avertical difference between the center of a largest reel to be grippedand the center of a smallest reel to be gripped and a distance overwhich said largest reel is to be raised to ensure free rotation of saidreel; (d) power means for vertically displacing each of said suspendingarms with respect to said supports; (e) each of said supports having afixed abutment which, in an uppermost position of the suspending armmounted thereon, supports the suspending arm rigidly with respect to theframe through the support; and (f) each of said suspending arms beingsupported on one of said supports by means of a spring member which in alowered gripping position of the suspending arm allows a flexiblemovement of the suspending arm with respect to the support in thelongitudinal direction of the suspending arm and a horizontal swingingmovement in a plane perpendicular to the axis of said reel beinggripped.
 2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein each of saidsuspending arms comprises a first lower rod and a second upper rod, saidrods being longitudinally movable with respect to each other, said firstrod being provided with said gripping means for gripping the reel andsaid second rod being fastened longitudinally stationary to the supportand connected to the power means.
 3. An apparatus according to claim 1or 2, wherein each of said suspending arms is supported on one of saidsupports by a bearing allowing the suspending arm to swing on thebearing in a vertical plane perpendicular to the axis of said reel. 4.The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein each of said suspending arms issupported on one of said supports by a spring allowing the suspendingarm to flex in the vertical direction.